As of 31 July 2023, UNHCR has registered 51, 821 refugees and asylum-seekers. More than half of the refugee population fled from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with the remaining population originating from Burundi, Rwanda and others from the East and Horn of African countries. Most of refugees in Malawi live in the heavily congested Dzaleka Refugee Camp which has 14, 123 households located near the capital Lilongwe and was set up in 1994 to accommodate just between 10,000 and 12,000 people. While many of these refugees have been in the country for decades, the situation is not static. Congolese and Burundians continue to arrive at an average of 400 individuals per month. While maintaining open borders for people seeking safety, the Government of Malawi has historically taken a restrictive approach to managing refugee situations by making several reservations to the 1951 Refugee Convention. Its domestic legal framework reflects these reservations and consequently refugees face restrictions on their freedom of movement through the encampment policy, experience limited access to social services and are restricted from employment. The Government of Malawi has already enrolled the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) despite an Inter-Ministerial CRRF Steering Committee yet to adopt the 5 pledges Malawi made during the Global Refugee Forum and the Roadmap for the implementation of the GCR-CRRF. One of the five pledges Malawi made during the GRF is “legal and policy” reform to ensure some of the 9 reservations, including; the encampment policy, restricted freedom of movement, restricted choice of place of residence by the refugees, access to public schools and access to employment are lifted. Pending the adoption of the five pledges and the Roadmap, UNHCR and its partners, using the Solutions Capital continues to impellent key CRRF activities in the areas of settlement approach, decongestion of Dzaleka refugee camp, livelihoods and self-reliance and advocacy with government on legal and policy reforms.

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